Godly Children
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 11 viewsNotes
Transcript
We do not take our cues from the world ever.
Replacement rate is 2.1 is what we need to average to replace ourselves when this generation dies. The US is 1.9... down since the 1970‘s.... but our population has grown... yes because of immigration. Western Europe... from 1.4 - 0.9... Japan has a birthrate of 1.4... 1.3 is the point of no return... according to cultural anthropology studies, no culture has survived at this rate. Japan is responding to this now... a country that did not have a baby boom after WWII.
Russia - pop 140 million ... by 2050 - 70 million.... right now 700,000 people per year of shrinking... what are they doing? $9000 per child.... $140 per month per child... if you stay at home to take care of the kids... if you were working ... you get 40% of your salary. Is it working... NO because it is not an economic issue. The richest countries in the world have the lowest birthrates.
- The Issue ladies and gentlemen... is lifestyle. Children are seen as a burden... a ball and chain... an inconvenience... a wet rag, a drag, a broken bag... and weight on our shoulders... interference... you name it. One of the biggest fears in our culture is overpopulation. The propaganda is to do as much as possible to discourage children. Having children??? Say goodbye to date nights, say goodbye to your free time, and say goodbye to sleep... say,... “children are at least a 25 year death sentence” Even though many ecologists say there is plenty of food, there will be limits on the kind of food available. So the fear is not that we are afraid that overpopulation will cause food to run out, we are afraid that certain kinds of food is gonna run out. Our culture is not about the preservation of life, but the preservation of lifestyle. But Shane the propaganda is not working. Many will say that this is not true...
But yet since 1973... there have been more than 54 million abortions... more than 20 percent of women in England have decided to have no kids... Psychologists are finding ... women are now admitting that they love one child more than another... parents admit to hating their kids... finding that those with no kids have lower emotional stress... good for emotions maybe ... but good for People?
- There is a trend with restaurants ... first they banned smoking... now they want to ban kids. Whole foods in Missouri are now offering “no kids hours” in the store... good for business, maybe.... but good for people?
- I remember growing up my older cousins boyfriend used to live in an apartment building that do not allow kids. Kids could visit but could not live there. Good for business, maybe… but good for people?
- Many in the philosophical arenas assert that children keep men and women from being able to achieve greatness... as far back as even Aristotle...good for progress maybe ... but good for people?
- What we see here is revealing of how we, today, see children... but it is not what God has revealed to us about children... He says they are a blessing... a heritage... a reward? I guess God better get with the times. Or just a thought…maybe the times need to get with God. At the annual convention this year… it was reminded from the platform on many occasions that the world is watching us. Are we concerned that God is watching us as well?
- So it seems that according to our culture God got it wrong. So was God wrong... of course not. So what is the problem? Children are a burden because they can keep us from achieving what the world values. They are a burden because what they keep us from is not from God. If our priorities and values are not from God, they will be a burden. If our treasures are not from God we will think they are a curse, but remember the things of this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life… those are the real curses. Believe not the lie today… hold fast to what is true about children. And what is true?
Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.
Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
The grass withers the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.
The Desire for Children
Children of God
The first thing we will look at today is the will and desire for the marriage union to bring children who are seen in the scriptures as a blessing. Second, we will see how the Lord has done a wonderful work in making us Children of God in Christ.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to see God’s blessing and a burden, it is the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that will transform our hearts and minds to truly treasure the treasures of Christ.
I. The Desire for Children
- Having children is the will of God.
A. What we see here in our mothers and fathers day passages… it is the answer to the question asked. Did not the Lord make you one with your wife. Was it not God that joined the two of you together. This is the concept of covenant. This is what it means when you hear… we are one flesh. But why did he make the two become one? He made two one so that he could have Godly offspring from the union. Again the two made one so that there would be godly offspring.
B. In Malachi’s time here we see the marriage institution was being threatened…the concept of covenant needed to be declared. There needs to be faithfulness to each other. This behavior is detrimental to the original fruit of the institution of marriage…offspring. But it is clear… this is not a new idea. Children has and always have been vital to the marriage relationship. It is the will of God. God gives the command to Adam and Eve.
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
C. Be fruitful and multiply. We see the same directive given to Noah after the flood. Even after the flood the directive has not changed.
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth.
D. This is God’s original design. This is the reason for the unity. He commands mankind to multiply. He expects mankind to multiply. This is why there is a union, why there is marriage, this is why there is a covenant.
E. Now there are those couples who cannot have children for whatever reason. Physical inability, medical reasons, but all are in the hands of God and a mystery. It is a command of God and also a gift.
Then Jacob became furious with Rachel. “Am I God?” he asked. “He’s the one who has kept you from having children!”
Then Esau looked at the women and children and asked, “Who are these people with you?”
“These are the children God has graciously given to me, your servant,” Jacob replied.
F. The ins and outs of this problem of barrenness can be extensive but not what we will address here at any length. It is a mystery, but what we know for sure is that Children are the will of God.
G. But like I say all the time… no matter what the world and our culture assert, if God commands something that should be enough for us. But in His wonderful grace he gives us more. The world may children as a burden, but the scriptures call them a blessing.
Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man
are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.
Martin Luther - The purpose of marriage is not pleasure and ease but the procreation and education of children and the support of a family. People who do not like children are swine, dunces, and blockheads, not worthy to be called men and women, because they despise the blessing of God, the Creator and Author of marriage.
G. But our culture continues to deceive and despise the blessings of God.
Although raising children has largely negative effects on parents' emotional well-being, parenthood is often idealized as a uniquely emotionally rewarding role," wrote Eibach in the February 2011 issue of Psychological Science.
Or, as Time Magazine explained it: "Having kids is an economic and emotional drain. It should make those who have kids feel worse. Instead, parents glorify their lives. They believe that the financial and emotional benefits of having children are significantly higher than they really are." - Why having kids is foolish edition
H. Let us not allow the culture to ruin the treasures of the Lord. What we treasure are the wonderful treasures that Christ provides for us. Remember the blessings of the world are fleeting they are only vapor, they are only chasing the wind.
I. When we think of all the things we are told are the worlds reasons that children are a burden are those things Ecclesiastes condemn. Power, pleasure, profits, popularity.
- It is said that children will keep us from achieving the influence and power we ultimately desire, but the power of the world is no power at all.
- It is said that children will keep you from having fun, but pleasure is never satisfied and it will never change with children or not.
- It is said that children are expensive and you will not have the financial security that you really want, but financial security cannot go with you and you will leave that money not to your children cause you don’t have any, but the bank that was stealing money form you with secret fees for years. Or it will go to a non-profit whose president is gonna use the extra money to buy million dollar homes.
-It is said that children will keep you from getting the fame and popularity that you could have. But even if you get it all… it will not last and another generation will come and have no idea who you are. Nor will they even care who you are.
J. All that the world will say that children will keep from you are all things that the Lord said are meaningless and not worth it. All that the Lord says is just vapor in the wind. Chasing the things of the world is chasing the wind. So children are a burden because they keep you from getting all the things the Lord says are meaningless. So i guess ...who we gonna believe?
II. Children of God
- We cry Abba Father.
A. And here we have the problem. Why do we continue to be drawn to the things of the world over and over again? Because the world continues to give us what we want. And we want want it because we are by nature children of the world. We are by nature children of wrath. Jesus even referred to some of us as being children of the devil. Why? It is because of sin and sin was real in us.
For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
While we were children sin was there. And the wages of sin is death.
B. But the Lord did not throw up his hands and say oh well. Did not just leave us to our demise. Why? Because we are His children and He loved us... He so loved us that He sent Christ to save us.
C. Salvation is here. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
D. And because of what Christ has done we become children of God.
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
E. Salvation is here for us. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.
F. Repent and believe and salvation is here.
For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
G. Rejoice this Father’s day. Our heavenly father loves us and desires us. We thank Him for though Christ and the power of the Spirit we become children of God. He is our daddy and we are His children. And if we are His children then we are His heirs… we are his kings and queens of the kingdom of heaven.